Geography

The Russian Federation is the largest of the 21 republics that make up
the Commonwealth of Independent States. It occupies most of eastern Europe
and north Asia, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific
Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea
and the Caucasus in the south. It is bordered by Norway and Finland in the
northwest; Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania in the
west; Georgia and Azerbaijan in the southwest; and Kazakhstan, Mongolia,
China, and North Korea along the southern border.

Government

Constitutional federation.

History

Tradition says the Viking Rurik came to Russia in 862 and founded the
first Russian dynasty in Novgorod. The various tribes were united by the
spread of Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries; Vladimir “the
Saint” was converted in 988. During the 11th century, the grand
dukes of Kiev held such centralizing power as existed. In 1240, Kiev was
destroyed by the Mongols, and the Russian territory was split into
numerous smaller dukedoms. Early dukes of Moscow extended their dominion
over other Russian cities through their office of tribute collector for
the Mongols and because of Moscow's role as an administrative and trade
center.

In the late 15th century, Duke Ivan III acquired Novgorod and Tver and
threw off the Mongol yoke. Ivan IV—the Terrible (1533–1584),
first Muscovite czar—is considered to have founded the Russian
state. He crushed the power of rival princes and boyars (great
landowners), but Russia remained largely medieval until the reign of Peter
the Great (1689–1725), grandson of the first Romanov czar, Michael
(1613–1645). Peter made extensive reforms aimed at westernization
and, through his defeat of Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava
in 1709, he extended Russia's boundaries to the west. Catherine the Great
(1762–1796) continued Peter's westernization program and also
expanded Russian territory, acquiring the Crimea, Ukraine, and part of
Poland. During the reign of Alexander I (1801–1825),
Napoléon's attempt to subdue Russia was defeated (1812–1813),
and new territory was gained, including Finland (1809) and Bessarabia
(1812). Alexander originated the Holy Alliance, which for a time crushed
Europe's rising liberal movement.

Alexander II (1855–1881) pushed Russia's borders to the Pacific
and into central Asia. Serfdom was abolished in 1861, but heavy
restrictions were imposed on the emancipated class. Revolutionary strikes,
following Russia's defeat in the war with Japan, forced Nicholas II
(1894–1917) to grant a representative national body (Duma), elected
by narrowly limited suffrage. It met for the first time in 1906 but had
little influence on Nicholas.